WDB
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Post by WDB on Mar 18, 2024 11:30:59 GMT
I’ve mentioned mine before but he can’t be the only one here. He likes to travel in comfort and space, and to feel that he’s in something a little out of the ordinary - although he also has a social conscience that’s a little uncomfortable with conspicuous consumption and profligate energy expenditure. No Range Rovers here, thank you, but my CLS has set a high standard in comfort and style that I’d miss if I replaced it with, say, a Peugeot.
Hence the (probably passing) interest in the overlarge and underefficient Audi Etron. Audi interiors don’t wow me the way they do some, but at the top end, the overwhelming blackness is softened with some polished metal and some gentler materials that make the whole effect rather nice. I used to enjoy airport rides in the black leather and chrome interior of my local firm’s A8L, and I suspect the Etron can be similar - with the benefit of near-silent electric propulsion, at least until it has to stop for a charge.
But there are other options. I’ve found out today that Škoda’s slice of the MEB-platform power shake-up is the Enyaq 85, a dollop of extra kilowatts that deals with the rather ponderous acceleration of the original 2WD Enyaq. And you can have it as an L&K top model - a set of bits that made a friend’s Superb estate very sybarite-friendly indeed. It covers my main wish list of non-black upholstery and uprated audio, which makes it seem worth a look - possibly more so than the Audi Q4 45, which gets the same powertrain upgrade. But I’ll need a climb on both to be sure.
And yes, the inner sybarite is quite happy once he’s inside an iX3, which does most things very well. He just has to close his eyes as he walks up to it.
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bpg
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Post by bpg on Mar 18, 2024 12:16:18 GMT
Hang on, let me overthink this...as one of my T-shirts says.
I spend about 2% of a year in my car, my inner sybarite has difficulty consolidating that against dropping, what was it ? £50k in 18 months on that Audi.
With a lease you pay the depreciation, no surprise there, the issue is the market is currently unstable and those kinds of numbers make me think very nice renovations to my house rather than sinking it into a depreciating monster I'll never own.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Mar 18, 2024 12:30:14 GMT
Well I'm ashamed to admit I've had to look up "sybarite" today. So much for the Classical part of my education.
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WDB
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Post by WDB on Mar 18, 2024 12:32:00 GMT
Agreed - but that’s where the fun begins for the parsimonious cash buyer. The CLS had dropped about £29,000 by the time I bought it.
I suppose this is still partly that old thing about cost of ownership versus cost of running. A middle-aged Mercedes S is likely to need more expensive maintenance than, say, a new Octavia bought for the same price, as well as being heavier on things like fuel, tyres and insurance. But the Octavia is depreciating by a larger amount each year. Buy the Mercedes new, of course, and you get hit with both.
EVs level the field a bit because the running gear is simpler and much the same in most of them. I’d still want a good extended warranty on something with as many complex ancillaries as an Etron.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Mar 18, 2024 13:42:44 GMT
Actually thinking about it I've more of an inner Dyonisian than Sybarite.
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WDB
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Post by WDB on Mar 18, 2024 14:39:57 GMT
What, noisy and not as effective as the adverts claim? Get a Miele instead! 😛
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Post by EspadaIII on Mar 18, 2024 15:28:50 GMT
Well I'm ashamed to admit I've had to look up "sybarite" today. So much for the Classical part of my education. Hear hear! A Latin 'O' level to boot. |
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Post by Humph on Mar 18, 2024 15:31:45 GMT
When I was 5 years old, a friend of my father had a Mercedes “Pagoda” roof thing. I decided then that I would have one, one day. (Dad favoured Volvos)
Well, I never actually achieved that specific ambition, but I have had a few three pointed star adorned cars over the years, and as is well documented here, I have a continuing soft spot for them. Not, I like to think anyway, as any form of display, but rather perhaps a fondness for the feeling of solidity or something they provide.
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Post by EspadaIII on Mar 19, 2024 12:23:21 GMT
Yes. Dad had one Mercedes, a 1972 or 1973 280SEL 3.5. Pretty much top of the range in the early 1970s apart from the 600 Grosse. Bought it second hand from the owner of a similar business with whom he was friendly. He got it when it was about three or four years old and owned it for a couple of years before moving it on. It gave me an itch that I scratched twice, once with a doom blue C200 in 2000 and then with the E350. I think I am done with them now though, although tiem will tell if they really get their act together on sensibly priced EVs or other non-carbon vehicles.
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WDB
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Post by WDB on Mar 19, 2024 13:30:41 GMT
I see they’ve dropped the underwhelming EQC from their EV range, perhaps to avoid stealing sales from the more expensive EQE SUV. The EQC was the closest thing to a current Mercedes I’d actually want to buy, although it suffered badly from compromised non-EV packaging and a fussy, over-black interior. Better looking outside than the similar iX3, though. Lots of cheapish used ones about, but unlike the Audi, they don’t tickle my could-be-a-bargain bone.
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Post by Humph on Mar 19, 2024 13:35:25 GMT
I think for now anyway, whatever I might also add to the family fleet, that I’ll just keep my old Merc. While we continue to regularly need something to move bikes and people, and indeed want something that will take us to and from the south of France without having to stop 14 times it is just too useful to get rid of. With the mileage on it, it’s worth burger all now so provided it doesn’t get expensively poorly it can keep on being the handy thing it always has been.
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WDB
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Post by WDB on Mar 27, 2024 16:50:34 GMT
OK, let’s go crazy. The sybarite is wondering how this would look on the drive. Would make a striking pair with the i3. Nice brown interior to please Vić too. www.sytner.co.uk/vehicle-details/69ac3f21-8897-4653-96f2-c01636a90c57?Yes, I know it’s a challenging thing to look at. It’s probably as over-radical as the iX3 is over-conservative. I don’t actually mind the styling, it’s just the bulk that would concern me. |
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bpg
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Post by bpg on Mar 27, 2024 17:11:03 GMT
Make sure to park it facing in to your property otherwise the neighbours may complain. That is a challenging front-end. When did the kidney grille become an 8-bit butterfly ?
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WDB
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Post by WDB on Mar 27, 2024 17:23:11 GMT
If I park it nose-in, the cable won’t reach the charging port. The neighbours will have to cope.  I actually like it in the stark black and white, far more than in red or blue or — shudder — black. It needs the M-Sport black vents in the bumper for shape and visual drama, and the smaller five-spoke wheels that this one has. The black lower doors reduce the apparent height, and the bottle-shaped rear side windows are a nice echo of the i3. |
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Post by EspadaIII on Mar 27, 2024 18:03:11 GMT
There are two of these outside our synagogue every morning; I think the drivers are inside praying for a more attractive front end. I just see bulk, where bulk does not need to be...
You can buy longer charging cables so the neighbours won't suffer. Maybe they will club together to buy one for you.
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